Everyday Hero: Brenda Brewer

Brenda Brewer of Joliet was born and raised in Maine, but after graduation from high school in 1964, she came to visit family in Joliet and never left.

Thirteen years ago, Brewer became a volunteer with the Joliet Area Community Hospice after she retired. She attributes her draw to volunteer to an accident she had in 1974.

“At 27 years old, I was in a horrific accident and was in the hospital for one year. I look back on that time and I had a lot of time for soul searching. A lot of talking to the Lord because I was not sure what he had planned for my life they changed in a blink of an eye,” Brewer said.

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After she was out of the hospital, Brewer said she could not go back to work as a cosmetologist and became a big sister with Big Brothers, Big Sisters in Joliet.

She then worked at an optometrist office and came across a “Herald-News” article about hospice in 1993. The volunteer classes were on Saturdays and she worked on Saturdays, but she vowed to herself that when she retired, she would follow that calling.

In 2005, Brewer became a volunteer for hospice and has become an integral part of the system.

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“She has a vivacious personality which draws families and patients in. She is caring and lets the families know she is in their corner. She has a great work ethic and a passion for this mission. She is committed heart and soul,” Denise Payton, Joliet Area Community Hospice Volunteer Manager said.

Brewer dons many hats at hospice. She works at the front desk as a greeter, trains volunteers and also sits by beds of those actively dying without family or friends.

Payton said Brewer works the most difficult shifts to fill, Saturday and Sunday nights as a greeter, which she said the title over simplifies the role.

“We have a 16-bed unit and most families that come through here are a wreck. This may be the first time they are in hospice or the patient has died and they have to come in. She has to know how to handle grieving or angry family members,” Payton said.

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Payton also said in the fall of 2016, the volunteer manager position was open and Brewer stepped in to manage the 250 hospice volunteers and even took her work home with her until Payton was hired. After she was hired, Brewer showed her the ropes and assisted on any questions or concerns.

Perhaps one of the most vital parts of her service to those in hospice was the vigil care. Whether at the hospice building, hospital or nursing home, when Brewer gets a call that someone has a short time to live, she goes to the bedside to be there when friends or family cannot.

One woman in particular touched her heart one year ago.

To this day, she tears up when she thinks of the moment. Brewer walked into a room of a 102-year-old woman, pulled up a chair and held her hand. She said the lady did not move, her eyes were closed and she had shallow breathing.

“I talked to her and pulled up a Bible with her name on it. She had scriptures in her book that must have been her favorite, so I read those passages for over an hour,” Brewer recalled.

She saw an Elvis Presley spiritual tape and placed it in a radio. She shut the door to the room and blasted the music as loud as she could. A nurse poked in and said to turn it down, but Brewer said she wanted this woman’s last moments to be great. A couple of nurses came in and sat in the empty bed next to the patient.

“This woman, who hadn’t moved for over three hours, opened her eyes, pulled her arms up like it was to the Lord and brought them down. The nurses had never seen anything like it before. I left shortly after, and got a call that 15 minutes after I left. She had passed,” Brewer said. “I get goosebumps. It’s so real, that what this is all about.”